The Runners

A Place To Go

 The Man sits quietly, staring and examining his mask, waiting for more bad news, after all that's all he's been getting lately. He slips the mask back on, where it belongs

The large door to his chamber opens, the door creeks loudly. "More bad news i assume?" The Man says, the LED mask's eyebrows narrowing puts John on edge immediately.

"Im afraid so, sir. We had two of them captured, but the other two came and broke them out." John says, fear prevalent in his voice. 

The Man puts his head down on the desk, He fidgets with his graying hair. He takes deep breaths, He feels like shouting at him but he contains his rage and looks up. "Hows work on project ambrosia?" He asks.

"Well, its lined up as another failure. But the results are interesting to say the least, Its best you see them, words wouldn't do it justice." John says as he hands The Man a manilla folder.

He opens the folder slowly, first few pages are technical document, nothing he doesn't already know. Finally he sees the photos. "Jesus christ." He says.

"should we abandon the project sir?" John asks meekly. The Man looks up at John with a smile, "No, Focus all work on creating more of these, They might come in handy." 

"Right, I'll tell them right away sir." He replies as he turns around and starts towards the door.

"Also! Tell the head of the project he's earned himself a raise." The Man with a smile.

As the Smaller Man closes the door The Man turns around his chair and stares at the large screen behind him. The electronic eyes on his mask narrow, even through LED's Rage boils from them.

"Goddamn them."

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I step outside and the chill of the air freezes me, "It was perfectly fine outside yesterday. How the fuck can it be this cold today!" I shout confused.

I see Ries and Sovetsky standing over a table with things splayed all over it. "Hey sorry I didn't come out sooner, I forgot."

"Oh it's fine, we're close to figuring this out. Come over here and help us." He says while staring at the table.

I walk to the table and start looking at the maps and data spread across it. "So, what's giving you two a hard time?"

"It's the logistics of the plans, they aren't panning out for any major battles. We get stuck in a fight and we're fucked, not enough medical supplies. the supplies we used after patching us up after the breakout drained us." Sovetsky sighs

I analyze the data and fragments of a plan form in my head, I need more information. "So for what you do have nailed down for the plan I need to be informed of, I think I have a bit of a plan."

Ries points to a spot on a map and starts explaining his ideas. "We need to enter a major military base and download all the data pertaining to the files you saw of project dusk. Once we get them we upload them to the internet and send them to major news channels."

I scratch the back of my head and sigh and point out a flaw in his plan. "We can't go to any major base for the data. I checked the servers at the last one and they moved it all to a central location, we want the data we have to go to the place it was transferred."

"So where the hell is that?" He asks frustrated.

"Could be in any of the major military installations around the country, the best bet we have is to check the servers of any around us for any information," I state.

Sovetsky interjects "Fort Isadore. The patron saint of information, I have a good feeling about this place."

I scan the map to find where it is and find it after an embarrassing amount of time. "It's a naval testing base. I wouldn't doubt it would be there, their keeping it hidden from us."

Sovetsky is about to say something but I cut him off. "Wait, How do you know about the patron saints?"

"I was raised catholic." He responds dryly,

He keeps looking at me as if I was to continue talking, "So, how long should it take for us to get there?"

I look at the map and estimate. "About 7 hours, as long as it's a nonstop trip and there are no distractions."

"Ok then, let's start packing up," Ries announces.

I start gathering up our stuff and packing it into the RV and after some time of packing up camp and freezing our collective balls off, we're done relatively quickly.

"Get in the car, we're leaving!" Ries shouts to everyone, getting their attention. "Get in front mist, your driving." He says to me while throwing me the keys.

I walk to the front and get in. after a moment the RV.

*

The dark road ahead of me puts me on edge, the feeling of calm it gives off feels artificial.

I keep checking the side mirrors for anyone following us and I listen to the sound around nearby for anything suspicious.

Every sign, every odd shape draws my attention. They make me nervous like at any moment something could happen, a helicopter could come over the horizon, or an armored vehicle convoy could roll over the nearest hill and stop us.

It's been years since I've had this feeling of nervousness, not since my past line of work. 

I check my GPS to see how much longer the trip will take, Six hours left. "This is going to be a long drive." I sigh.

(Authors note: Hey sorry this took so long, a lot of things got in the way. lots of personal problems, dominance shifts. you know. I'll try to get these out quicker. Cya